William
Missouri Downs
(Download Downs)
All of these plays are copyrighted and cannot be
produced without permission of the playwright or his publishers.
WOMEN PLAYING HAMLET
Coming Soon
(Full length
– Comedy-Drama)
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(Full length - Comedy) Winner of the 2013 – The Reva Shiner Comedy Award at the Bloomington Playwrights Project Finalist at The
Eugene OÕNeill A
comedy about what happens when a way-to-close comet interrupts a dinner
party. In an attempt to add
increase the insignificance of their lives, Archie
and Eudora have built a theatre in their living room. YouÕve heard of reality
television; theyÕve created reality theatre. But their performance goes absurdly erry when an astronomical ice ball the size of Manhattan
threatens to plunge the earth, the dinner party, and their audience into
total darkness. |
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Published By Samuel French (Full length – Comedy-Drama) National
New Play Network Rolling Opening - A dark comedy about the meaning of life, school
shootings, and why god hates amputees. The script uses Brechtian alienation
and has great potential for multimedia staging. ÒThe laughs keep coming — even as audience members might think with
a twinge, "Ouch, that might be me." Some will no
doubt be offended by one non-politically correct moment or another.
But with luck, all will be forced to think.Ó - Orlando Sentinel |
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(Full length - Romantic Comedy) A comedy answers the three most important questions
in life: Does god exist? What is your purpose? And what should you do when
youÕre charged with plagiarism? The story revolves around a chance
meeting at a Barnes and Noble between an actor who records books on tape and
a makeup artist who loves to listen. Soon they set out to understand Mother
Teresa, professional rodeo announcers, near death experiences, pigeons and
their effect on jet engines, and how books on tape can fix our lives in
twelve easy steps. – ÒDowns flexes his considerable witÓ – Denver
Post |
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Published By Samuel French (Full length - Comedy) A about an infertile Jewish
couple. One day their dreams are answered - they find a young pregnant girl
from Iowa who is willing to let them adopt her out-of-wedlock baby. The only
problem is the girl doesnÕt know theyÕre Jewish. All she knows about Jews is what
her farmer father told her, ÒThey control Hollywood and killed Jesus.Ó |
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(Full length – A Serious Comedy) Forgiving John Lennon is a comedy/drama about two progressive professors who set out to make
their college more Islam-friendly by inviting an Islamic poet from Somalia to
speak on campus; in one of their many clumsy attempts to bridge cultures,
they apologize for the Crusades. The Detroit Free Press called it, Òsurprisingly
funnyÓ - ÒA very insightful script that will likely have tongues wagging on
all sides of the political spectrum.Ó
- Michigan Encore Magazine - 1st place at the SteppingStone Theatre, New York - 2nd place Virtual Theatre
ProjectÕs playwriting contest at Wake Forest University – ÒSurprisingly
FunnyÓ - The Detroit Free Press (Full length - Drama) In
this small two-character play we place Ayn on trial and ask the audience to
be the jury and vote on which ending the play will have – guilty or not
guilty (just like AynÕs play The Night Of January 16th). Were her
thoughts on laissez-faire capitalism the fountainhead that led to our current
economic situation? Have her philosophies on selfishness led to Social
Darwinism? Did she, in her personal life, live up to her heroes such as John
Galt? |
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Published By Samuel French (Full length - Romantic Comedy) A comedy about DescartesÕ
philosophical insight ÒI think therefore I am.Ó ItÕs the story of an average
philosophy major who is in love with the
unattainable woman of his dreams. The only problem is that she has a glass
eye and looks right through him. Soon it occurs to him that she's not
being narcissistic but in fact can't see him. He reasons that the
only logical thing to do is to move in with her and cohabitate
– despite the fact that sheÕs unaware of his existence. It might
be called a Woody Allen type comedy. 1st Place - GreenHouse New Play Festival – HotCity
Theatre St. Louis. |
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THE
POLISH BOOK OF KARMA- NEW! (Full length - Comedy) A comedy about a daughter,
educated at godless-liberal Harvard, who comes home to visit her
working-class, God-fearing, Polish family on the same
weekend the Pope arrives in Chicago. This Last Night of Ballyhoo-ish
comedy is new and has never been produced. |
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(Full length – A Comedy/Drama) A Mormon English professor
is assigned a gay teaching assistant – ÒThis script had us laughing out
loud and pondering social issues.Ó Tricity Herald |
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(Full length - A Comedy in the Chekhovian Style) Two Hollywood screenwriters are
hired by Disney to adapt Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard into a new movie
for Mel Gibson. All plot points in Seagulls
In A Cherry Tree come from ChekhovÕs plays (in particular The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull), plus a touch of invention, all of which have been
rearranged and shaped in order to form a new Chekhov play. Winner of the
Larry Corse Prize for Playwriting. ÒA smart,
comical scriptÉ All you have to do is like to laughÓ - The Orlando Sentinel |
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JEWISH SPORTS HEROES & TEXAS
INTELLECTUALS 1st Place -
Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works (Full length - Comedy) A comedy about a daughter
who comes home to Texas to confront the dogma of her
sexist-egotistical-cowboy-philosopher-father. He divorced her mother years ago
because he was having an affair with Ayn Rand. |
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Based On The Actual
Transcripts Of The Scopes Trial (Full length - Drama) Inherit the Wind used only a handful of lines from the original trial. This new play has
been edited directly from the actual 1925 trial transcripts. It stages the trial as if it were
happening today, as a result, this play is open gender neutral and colorblind
casting. |
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Published
by Next Stage Press (Full length – Drama) Arlen Weinberg, a Jewish anthropologist, is called to be an expert
witness in a murder trial. The accused: a white police officer. His alleged
crime: murdering a black man twenty years ago and burying the bones in the
dirt floor beneath his brownstone. When Arlen arrives, he is shocked to
discover that the defense lawyer is black. Ira Altridge
is that black lawyer and he's not having a good day. His first expert witness
has suddenly resigned from the case, giving him only one thin lunch hour to
get his new anthropologist up to speed. Soon, the men discover they know each
other, having both grown up in the same suburb of Chicago. Ira was a gang
member who often preyed on Jewish boys and Arlen was the perfect target.
Soon, their childhoods, cultures, and convictions come into conflict. Arlen's
namby pamby liberalism
drives Ira nuts, while Arlen begins to question if Ira's true purpose is to
defend his white client. – 1st Place – National
Playwrights Award |
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Published
by Playscripts (Full length - Comedy) A dark comedy about a public school in Kansas. This "Christopher Durang"
type play concerns a young Jewish educator and her first year of teaching in
a school that has been taken over by the religious right. The play examines the politics of
education, including political correctness, censorship, countless new
mandates, school prayer, school shootings, and creative ways to avoid
teaching evolution. Semi-Finalist at the Eugene OÕNeill. |
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HEADSET: A View From The Light Booth Published
by Heuer Press (Full length – Farce) A comedy about the technical
side of theatre. The entire play takes place in the Light Booth of the
Chicago-Ensemble-Repertory-Group-Theatre-Project, on the final night of the
CompanyÕs questionable production of Hamlet. Everything that can go wrong
does. The Los Angeles
Times called it ÒA delightfully funny
play." |
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A New Adaptation Published by Next
Stage Press (Full length – Drama) By Henrik
Ibsen From A Literal Translation By Hans Lindstrom Adapted by William Missouri Downs |
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Other Plays available on request: Little Family Secrets, My Laughing Years, The Shelf Life of Sushi,
Chasing Pirandello, Conversion Class, Bare Handed Catch & The Little Train That Could But Chose Not To.